This text considers the full range of the political thought of the French philosopher Francois Lyotard and its broader implications for an understanding of the political. James Williams traces the development of Lyotards thought from his early Marxist essays on the Algerian struggle for independence to his break with the thought of Marx and Freud. This is compared with Lyotards later, highly influental writings on the politics of desire and his attempts to base a postmodern political discourse on the sublime. The book offers a systematic analysis of the political dimension of the work of one of the most controversial and influential philosophers of the 20th century.
